Veganize It! Humphry Slocombe Secret Breakfast

Veganize It! is the new column by me, Sabrina Modelle. In it I will fearlessly veganize some of the Mission’s most popular dishes. Is there something you miss since becoming vegan? Poof, veganized! Something non-vegany you’ve always wanted to try — I’ll veganize that, too. Wherever there is butter, I’ll be there to make it better. Wherever there is pork, watch seitan appear. I’m Sabrina Modelle, friend to vegans everywhere.

I can’t say that Humphry Slocombe’s proximity to my flat was the deciding factor when we signed our lease, but it certainly didn’t hurt. We are exactly two blocks over and one block down (if you count Treat Street as a whole block). My obsession with the glorious frozen confectioner was so extreme when we first moved in that I had to set rules. I only allowed myself either one scoop from Humphrey Slocombe or one Dynamo Donut per week. I almost always chose the ice cream.

On February 15 of this year, I began a 28-day vegan cleanse. No dairy, eggs, meat, gluten, alcohol, caffeine or refined sugar. By the beginning of March, I knew my eating habits would change drastically forever. Since I am a food writer, I adopted a six-day-a-week vegan/seagan mostly vegan diet with one day a week reserved for research, cooking, recipe development for clients and dining at the latest and greatest. It works perfectly for me, and it feels like a nice balance for my health and the health of the planet.

Seeing as I only have one day a week to try new non-vegan things in the food world, going back to my old standbys would defeat the purpose. Still, there are times I miss my old favorites — like Secret Breakfast, Humphry Slocombe’s signature flavor. If you’ve never had this ice cream because you’re vegan or lactose-intolerant, then hello, I’m your new best friend.

Secret Breakfast consists of vanilla ice cream with bourbon and cornflakes. I always thought it was a funny name, but the hilarity never fully hit me until I was buying bourbon and cornflakes at 9 a.m. My only regret — not buying milk as well. It would have felt so dirty, in such a good way.

For this recipe you’ll need an ice cream maker, and I suggest using an immersion blender (one of those blenders on a stick), but you can use a regular blender, hand-beaters or just a whisk and some plain ol’ elbow grease. You can eat this plain or top it with my ooey gooey vegan caramel, which is also made with bourbon.

Warning: This recipe contains straight bourbon — it doesn’t cook off or freeze off (is there any such thing?). You may get buzzed from this ice cream. Oh, and don’t feed it to the kiddies!

INGREDIENTS

16 oz package Mimic Crème® Healthy Top

1 cup full-fat coconut milk

1/3 cup bourbon (I used Bulleit)

2/3 cup cornflakes

1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon agave nectar

pinch of finely ground sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Add Mimic Crème®, coconut milk, bourbon, agave, vanilla and salt to a bowl and mix with an immersion blender for about 3-5 minutes. You want the mixture to be very aerated but not whipped like whipped cream.

Place corn flakes in a large bowl and crush gently with your hands until they are about half to a quarter of their original flake size.

Using a slotted spoon, add the corn flakes to the “cream” mixture; you don’t want the crumbs, so don’t just pour the whole bowl in.

Mix the corn flakes into the “cream“ mixture, then add to the pre-frozen bowl of your ice cream maker and follow the instructions.

Enjoy in a cup or cone, or in a shot glass floating on top of your favorite bourbon!

I hope you’ll love this vegan Secret Breakfast. What are some things you’d like to see veganized? Please someone say something from Dynamo!

81 Comments

Hi Mylene,
Until recently, I was eating a six day a week vegan diet, but it became apparent that soy products were triggering my migraines. I also eat beans and seitan for protein, but many beans trigger my migraines as well. About two weeks ago, I added fish to my diet. The result being, I eat a vegan diet with some sustainable seafood for added protein a couple of times a week. Seagan is just a made up name that I’ve heard tossed around over the years during my bouts of vegetrarianism/veganism/pescatarianism/ethical omni life. I like six day a week seagan because I’m not pescatarian since I don’t eat eggs or dairy (except on my one day a week). Labels are so complicated, right?
Now, is there anything I can veganize for you?
Sabrina

You’re not the only one with problems with beans – it’s a very common allergen! I personally avoid anything that has “soy protein isolate” and don’t eat things with beans at all – I get flu-like symptoms (nausea, headaches, clammy, energy drops & then I go to sleep wherever I am).

You’re not alone!

Just – please – don’t use the term “Seagan” – eating sea animals has nothing to do with veganism and trying to make it sound like it just doesn’t help your credibility.

You could say that you are part-time vegan, part time follower of the Okinawan diet: seafood, rice, etc.

Being vegan means avoiding eating, wearing, or otherwise using animal products. Donald Watson, who coined the term in 1944, defined it this way: “..the word ‘veganism’ denotes a philosophy and way of living which
seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment.” So it doesn’t really make sense for somebody to call themselves a “part-time vegan.” Either someone is vegan or they aren’t. Being vegan involves an ethical choice to avoid exploitation of animals.

It would, on the other hand, make perfect sense for Sabrina to say that she ate vegan meals the majority of the time, if that’s the case, and she points out some good reasons for doing that–a plant-centered diet is, other things being equal, much healthier and much better for the planet than an animal product-centered one.

I was curious, since you wrote “vegan/seagan” and vegans (by definition) avoid all forms of animal use or exploitation (i.e. food, clothing, entertainment, et al). Limiting the use of the word to food alone is problematic, but using the word “vegan” to describe a diet that involves the habitual consumption of one (or several) type(s) of animal species is certainly an incorrect use of the term.

BTW, if the sole reason that you’re consuming fishes and and other sea creatures is that you fear you’re not getting enough protein (since you state that soy and some other legumes give you migraines), you should consider exploring other really good plant-based sources of protein like seitan, nuts/seeds (and their butters), quinoa, amaranth, oats and various other whole grain products.

Thank you so much for the suggestions, we do include many of the grains you’ve mentioned above and LOVE them. While I am very committed to the health of the planet and I am grateful for the impact my choices have had on the lives of all beings, I consider myself a dietary vegan, first. That is not to say that the ethics are not important. I work, full time, for Care2.com (with over 600 nonprofits) and I am a dedicated Buddist practitioner. I feel healthy, happy, and pretty low impact. I’ll take into consideration your suggestions to tweak my terminology.

You write that you “consider yourself a dietary vegan, first”. But you are not a vegan, and therefore are not entitled to describe or consider yourself vegan. As for Care2, why does it have that annoying feature where you have to opt out of receiving spam from it? Why not invite people to opt in if they want further communication rather than putting a tiny little box for them to opt out?

I’m glad that your concerned about your health and the environment and I’ve no doubt that you’re probably a really decent sort, whether or not you’re a Buddhist or on Care2’s payroll. But my point (and the point made by several others here) was that vegans don’t consume animal products — and so-called “dietary vegans” (more accurately called “strict vegetarians”) don’t eat fish several times a week and then treat themselves to a seventh day’s feast of animal products.

The correct term for a part time vegan or vegetarian, seagan, or anyone who eats ANY meat is omni. If you only eat seafood and no other type of meat pescatarian is an appropriate name. There are also no ‘dietary vegans’. If you don’t eat any animal products EVER, but still use/wear animal products then you are a vegetarian.

Gotta love it…part time vegan…kind of like being part time pregnant. Either you are or you aren’t.

Well, it seems we’ve had a hot debate over the word seagan! Most hate it with one sole (no pun intented) dissenter in Dottie. I’m glad we’ve got a lively conversation started and I’m happy to continue the dialogue.

In addition, I would love to know some things you’ve seen or heard about on Mission menus that you’d like to see veganized. Feel free to comment, send me a tweet @thetomatotart or drop me an email.

Let me put it this way: saying that you are a “vegan” who sometimes eats seafood (seagan) is like saying that you are a lesbian but you have a boyfriend who lives with you and shares your bed.

It just isn’t true. Sorry. You’re not a vegan.

(and in the hypothetical case – not a lesbian – ask many people on CL w4w forum).

However – I am delighted and thrilled that you are promoting the veganization and consumption of vegan food.

I encourage you to examine your ethics around eating sea-food – it’s pretty horrifying when you begin to examine it.

First – there are not standards anywhere in the world for the ethical treatment, holding or slaughter of sea animals. They let them suffocate over long periods of time – or just bang their heads on hard surfaces to stun them before letting them suffocate.

Second – the ridiculous population growth we have seen (the planet’s population has doubled in the last 45 years) – plus the increased demand for sea animals as food in the US – has resulted in devastation of diversity in the ocean.

Even eating shrimp – and as a former part-time vegetarian/seafood eater – I attest: they are tasty – you are destroying the diversity of the ocean. 26 pounds of other sea animals are just killed, wasted and destroyed – for 1 pound of shrimp.

Third – you do need to take a batch of this crazy delicious sounding ice cream to Millennium Restaurant on Wednesday for the annual white trash dinner – I promise the chef will raise an eyebrow.

I think I have more of an issue with your use of the term vegan. Being a vegan is not really something that can be done part-time. You either are or you are not. Also included within that label is an abstinence from animal derived clothing, accessories, or anything product/service involving the exploitation of animals. What you describe sounds more like a strict vegetarian diet on a part-time basis.

db,
“strict vegetarian on a part-time basis”? You’re giving this nonsense of eating animals and animal products on certain days way too many exceptions. As you stated, you’re either vegan or you’re not.

Hello Sabrina. Greetings from Seattle! I understand that becoming vegan is a journey. I think that you are posssibly still transitioning into veganism. I am vegan, and I must tell you that there is nothing halfway about it. To be a vegan, one must stop all animal use. That means cleaning your kitchen, closets, dressers, and living space of anything made from animals. I think new vegans do love to “veganize” old menus and recipes because it is fun and familiar. I hope that you will stop eating dairy, eggs, fish, seafood, meat, and honey. If you are set on veganizing foods from the Mission, I have a challenge for you. Veganize flan.

As far as labels go, you are a pescetarian. You eat fish. Pescetarians may or may not consume dairy and/or eggs. I really dislike cooptation of the word “vegan,” such as seagan, pregan, beegan, freegan, and so on.

Seagun is a very unweildy word which is pescatarian. As previously posted above, coopting vegan to make new terms is problematic. There is omnivore, vegetarian, and vegan. That is seriously enough for most of general society to deal with at present without new terms to confuse people more. Veganism is a way of being, not just a diet that one may partake of on various days.

You don’t need to rely on soy based products to be a healthy vegan. There are quite a few soy intolerant vegans who do just fine on a varied plants based diet.

Veganism isn’t just a diet though. It’s about justice and saying no to any form of exploitation, including that of non-human animals. So please don’t call yourself a part-time vegan if you’re still in any way intentionally using and/or consuming animal products. There is no part-time veganism. You either refuse to be part of the exploitation and all that is needed to maintain this system of exploitation, or you don’t.

As an actual vegan, I resent it when people who eat animal products try to hijack the word “vegan”. Secondly, I find it bizarre that someone who is quite happy with not being vegan is claiming to be a “friend” of vegans. I have friends who are not vegan, just as you probably have friends who are vegan. But in terms of promoting veganism, well, you and I are not on the same side. Because I think that it is important not to eat animals or to support animal farming by eating milk, or eggs. You, clearly do not have a problem with animals being eaten or farmed.

I find the fad for people like you, who are happy about not being vegan, deciding to blog about veganism mystifying and annoying. I really wish you would stop it and leave blogging about veganism to actual genuine vegans.

in response to “leave blogging about veganism to actual genuine vegans”- as we can see from the Vegnews meat photo debacle, non-vegans can even own a national vegan magazine! So what is the detrimental impact of non-vegans promoting cruelty free living/recipes? I’d rather Sabrina write about veganizing delicious ice cream than try out a new steak recipe. It’s exactly your sort of misdirected elitist attitude that turns many people off from truly hearing the benefits of veganism. I support ya Sabrina, now please make me a delicious vegan pupusa recipe (yummmm!)

Thank you Justine. I do believe that any small step counts. Thanks for the metta. Unlike, the photo debacle, I can promise, there is no meat no dairy nary an egg in any photo I shoot. Also, unlike most food mags/cook books, everything I shoot is completely edible (I usually eat it after I’ve shot). Funny you should as for pupusas (Laura did too), it may take me a while to perfect, but I’m working on them. I’m thinking black bean and spinach with really spicy curtido (the cabbage stuff)

It’s great that Sabrina is writing a column about veganizing recipes. What’s unfortunate is that she’s qualifying herself as a sort of vegan when the truth is that she uses animals (including but not limited to eating their flesh and secretions). I mean, if eating fishes falls under her definition of veganism, then what could one expect in a veganized recipe of hers? Mussels? Anchovies? It’s troublesome. Plus, it sends a really confusing message out to the public to have someone who eats animals and animal products referring to herself as a type of vegan. Those of us who *are* vegan have to deal with this when people come up to us and say “Oh, so you eat fish, right? Because this woman who writes this article for such and such a newspaper is vegan and she eats fish to get enough protein. Or are you one of those really radical extremist vegans who — gasp!! — doesn’t eat or use animals at all?”

I simply do not understand why someone who chooses not to be vegan wants to write about veganism, as opposed to writing about food, some of which is vegan. But for a non-vegan to write a vegan blog is just weird; like an observant Jew writing a blog aimed at a Christian readership or a heterosexual (male or female) writing about lesbianism. I am a vegan, I think veganism is great. So if anyone agrees with me, why on Earth would she or he not simply GO VEGAN?

my point of contention was specifically with the comment “leave blogging about veganism to actual genuine vegans.” THAT is what I find elitist and exclusionary. I hope that more meat eaters, chefs, and non-vegan bloggers see how delicious vegan food can be, and they write about it and make it!!! Saying that only vegan writers can blog about vegan food is counter productive to the entire cruelty-free movement. While not everyone will become 100% vegan tomorrow (believe me, I wish)- I applaud those that are making steps in what I believe is the right direction and share their love of cruelty-free recipes.

Don’t get me wrong. If anybody wants to blog about the difficulties they are having becoming vegan, fine. But, please, no more of this nonsense of non-vegans setting themselves up as “experts” on veganism. If it’s so attractive, be one already. You definitely do not need to eat any soya or excessive amounts of beans, so that is that excuse out of the way.

Hi Vanilla Rose,
I’m not writing about veganism per se. I write vegan recipes- or plant-based recipes if you prefer. Let’s look at this mathematically. If I eat an average of 21 meals and 7 snacks a week. Let’s round up me eating 30 times a week. I might eat fish two out of 30 times with other animal products only figuring in to two or three of those times on other days. So 25(or 26) of the 30 times I eat each week or 83-85% of my meals are plant based, strict vegetarian, or vegan. Although I do include other recipes on my personal blog, from time to time, this is what I eat, this is what I write about.

Whatever. If I want more vegan recipes, I will go to a blog by someone who is actually vegan, not a flesh-eater. I do not understand your interest in a system of ethics which is not one you wish to adopt for yourself. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are not jumping on a bandwagon. I deeply sympathise with you re your migraines, but as others have already pointed out, you don’t need to eat soya to be a vegan. Nor do you need to eat excessive amounts of beans. Or any beans, for that matter.

So, I am drawn to the conclusion that you have no problem with the ethics of killing to suit your tastebuds. That seems like a very peculiar attitude for a Buddhist to take. I am glad that at least you have seen the error of using a stupid term like “seagan”.

I think this column is the ….. best thing I’ve seen on the internet in a long time. I can’t wait to see what Sabrina cooks up as she is a culinary genius!

Also — what about banana cream pie from Mission Pie? I am always on them to do a creamy vegan pie! Maybe you could school them! Also, any of Anthony’s Cookies (he told me he is working on a vegan recipe so maybe he’d be another person to actually talk to!) and oooh! What about a pupusa? OMG PLEASE.

Thanks Laura,
I could definitely try do a banana cream pie (yum) and maybe I will pop by and talk to Anthony. I am already working to help Bite Me sandwiches to help him create an AMAZING vegan sandwich. Pupusas would also be a fun challenge. I’ve never made them before. If you’re really craving pupusas, you can find vegan pupupsas at Sunrise Cafe on 24th and Folsom. They are sooo yum.

I appreciate what you are doing here. However, like others have said, being vegan is an all-in deal. There’s no part time about it. It’s very serious commitment, and one I hope you can someday embrace.

In the meantime, using it or a term like “seagan” makes things harder on us. The only hard thing I find about being vegan these days is correcting all the misconceptions about us from the general public. Please be considerate and don’t add to our difficulties. 🙂

Good god, what a bunch of irritating, self righteous, annoying people. Dude, who the F cares about labels, anyway? Seriously. You’re putting a smiley face after whining about someone ‘adding to your difficulties.’ Your difficulties about what? About telling people what foods you refuse to eat? Cry. me. a. river.
#firstworldproblems

Actually, veganism is the key to many global problems such as hunger, exploitation, water shortage, global warming, and violence. What we choose to eat impacts what others are (not) getting. (Please read if you think this is nonsense. http://www.eurovia.org/spip.php?article436&lang=de)

Vegans “whine” about that label because it isn’t simply a way to identify. It’s about ethics and working towards a better world. We believe non-vegans care just as much and want them to see the incompatibility of their moral values and food choices. That becomes a whole lot harder to do when people are confused about what veganism is because they see dairy and fish eating “vegans”.
It’s not about “our label” but about you, the next person, everybody and everyone on this planet, human or non-human animal.

I have to say… I find your comment “We believe non-vegans care just as much and want them to see the incompatibility of their moral values and food choices,” to be incredibly patronizing. It also over-simplifies a really complicated food ecosystem. If the soybeans in your tofu are grown using GMO on land that used to support a wide diversity of wildlife and now is being poisoned with pesticides by a big multinational company, how “moral” is that?

I get what a vegan is and I do believe in correct use of terminology. But that’s not the whole issue here.

It is possible for a non-vegan to sometimes eat vegan meals – and eating less meat is generally better than eating a heaping pile of meat. If all the meat-eaters could be persuaded to cut back – not through finger-wagging but through showing them that there are extremely tasty alternatives out there – as this blogger is doing – you guys might gain more traction.

Katherine, I was only trying to be honest and as clear as possible to TK who said vegans whine, and I’m sorry if that makes me sound patronizing.

I agree about the GMO and mindless consumerism. The ecosystem is complex indeed, exactly because it’s all connected. That’s why I don’t believe it would make a lot of sense for an ethical vegan to splurge on GMOs (or heaps of exotic fruits/vegetables for that matter.)

Vegans don’t need to consume that many soy products to be healthy. More than half of the soy production is meant to feed farm factory animals. Less land would be needed and less wildlife would be killed if more of us would (directly) eat the greens and legumes that came off the land instead of using them to keep enslaved animals alive just long enough to be very profitable.

You say thay ‘less meat is generally better than eating a heaping pile of meat’ and I’d agree that it would be good to kill/exploit less rather than more if those were the only two options we had. I believe we can and should do better than that though, every day of the week. Animals, other beings, are not ours to use, exploit and kill – at all.

OK, but at some point you have to decide what’s most important to you. Let’s say there are 100,000 people in the U.S. who are willing to become pure vegans. So if you get all those people, great.

But if you can convince 100,000,000 people in the U.S. just to cut down on their meat consumption, I’d argue that you’ve just made much more of an impact. And you’ve done it without making people feel like the minute they eat one bite of something that has meat in it, it’s all over and they’re bad bad people.

There are multiple reasons why people choose to avoid animal products. Some for ethical reasons, but I’d say many more of them do it for their health. Those people are open to your message… if it’s a different message than some of the arguments I’m seeing here.

TK, there’s a difference between “label” and “definition.” Words do have actual, discrete meanings, and pretending they don’t makes us all both dumber and more susceptible to manipulation. That’s, you know, sort of what George Orwell was on about.

“Vegan” is a word with a discrete definition: a person who abstains from eating all animals, all the time, and also from wearing them, all the time.

A person who doesn’t meet this definition is not a vegan. Just as you can’t claim to be a Christian when you don’t believe in God, you can’t claim to be a vegan when you eat fish six days a week and other animals on the seventh. If you eat animals — ever — you are not a vegan.

(my comment is in the wrong place but the site only lets you comment on comments a few times I think.)

People who go vegan for health reasons can just as easily switch back to being an omnivore – and by can I mean that their conscience will let them since they weren’t doing it for other animals in the first place. (e.g. Bill Clinton, Oprah)

People who cut down on their meat consumption often “replace” the meat with fish, eggs or cheese. When they do, that really doesn’t make a difference to the number of animals that are exploited.

If they do cut back on all animal products so as to actually lessen the demand, they are still supporting animal slavery when they do eat animal products, buy leather shoes, go to circuses etcetera. Supporting it is maintaining it.

What, in my opinion, needs to change is not the pounds of steak per capita, but the number of people who refuse to be part of the killing. Anything else does not change the idea that animals are ours to exploit as we please.

I do not believe that only a minority of people are open to going vegan. I’m convinced that most people are strongly opposed to unnecessarily harming others, taking their lives, and to violence in general.

That’s why nobody wants to see the images of hundreds hung upside down by one leg and cut open, just because they taste good.
If we had no conscience, those images would not cause us to turn our heads. We’d laugh when we’d see day old calves being ripped away from their mother, leaving them both crying.

We would not need all of those ads with laughing chickens and pigs to convince us that it’s okay to eat them.

Most children have a really hard time the moment they make the connection between the meat on their plate and the animals in the petting zoo. Parents tell them what their parents told them, that it’s just the way it is, that the animals don’t mind.

Many of us were once that kid who pouted or started crying when we discovered we pet some and kill others.
It does not have to be this way.

elle, thanks for the recommendation for Gracias Madre. Next time I am in the City, I’ll definitely check it out. It’s always so wonderful to go to a vegan restaurant where I can have anything on the menu.

Just wanted to add a bit about beans. For the new vegan, it may be difficult to digest beans. Over time, that problem does go away. In the meantime, add some asafetida to the beans. That will help with flatulence problems. Peace, K.

Just to be clear, I have no digestive problems with beans. I have cluster migraines which put me down for up to 5 days- completely unable to function. Digestive problems can also be solved with epazote which tastes more delicious than it smells (like asafetida)

Sabrina, you’re carving out an important niche here, and I wish you well. Your veganized recipes can be a great tool for people who want to step off meat/egg/dairy and still enjoy familiar dishes. New vegans or the “vegan-curious” can really use these training wheels as they move away from animal products.

If you hang in there, I’m sure you’ll get used to writing for vegans, and you’ll adjust your terminology to avoid unnecessary heartburn. As you’re learning the hard way, close is not close enough when you employ The Vee Word to your own diet. Instead of labeling yourself as some kind of “pretty much, except…” vegan, you can slant your focus toward being an ambassador between two significant SF food cultures. This is your unique perch: If you are sampling the original to get your version to taste just like it, you are bringing something to the table that vegan chefs really can’t, not if they’re actual, committed vegans.

Some of you are ethical vegans which is fine if that is what you choose. Some of us are vegans only for dietary reasons. I am a newer vegan and was resistant to try veganism because of the militant attitude of the more visible and outspoken vegans that I encountered. Now that I am eating a vegan diet I feel better and am much healthier. I will eat fish on occasion and I will have a piece of flesh once or twice a month now so I don’t call myself a strict vegan anymore but I still am dairy free. This is my choice. I still choose to be vegan until I choose to add to my diet. Some of you will not understand this or accept this but that doesn’t matter. I live my life and and eat how and what I want. I will even call myself what I want. I also don’t care what you eat or what you call yourselves and won’t try to get you to change. Just know that being the food Taliban is not helping your cause any and if anything it is turning away any curious omnivores that may be interested in reducing their animal consumption.

VeganVet, if you’re going to keep eating dead animals while calling yourself a vegan, you might as well look at a purple flower and call it blue. This becomes especially harmful if you are also teaching a baby how to speak. Or, in your case, if people around you think they know what vegans eat based on what they see you eat. I eat far less animal product than you do, based on your description, but I will never call myself a vegan unless I ever decide to give up the rest of it. This is not being rigid; it’s being accurate.

What is wrong with being outspoken concerning moral issues? Who’d ever have changed anything if there were no “militant” people around? We’d still own (human) slaves if we thought being outspoken was worse than accepting the immoral.

Veganism isn’t about food, really. We’re not talking about the choice between rice or potatoes here, yellow or pink, but about ceaseless, horrendous exploitation, and the choice not to harm. That, is why we’re militant.

It’s not about respecting your choices and “freedom” but how about your choices affect the ones who have no choice nor voice.

You have no right to call yourself vegan when you clearly have no wish to become one. Your decision to use words inaccurately shows disrespect for actual vegans as well as disrespect for the English language. Your choice to spread confusion causes problems for genuine vegans when we eat out or other people cater for us. What do you think gives you the right to do that?

Vegans are uber vegetarians. Many of them seem to despise vegetarians, but like vegetarians they don’t eat mammals, birds, or fish, and they don’t make exceptions. Vegans, whether for ethical, environmental or health reasons, take the practice further by also not eating food containing eggs, dairy or honey, and most vegans take it further yet by avoiding leather, wool, silk, pearls and beeswax. VeganVet, don’t take my word for it, or the word of what you charmingly call the “Food Taliban.” Look it up in the dictionary. The way you eat fits no dictionary definition of the word vegan.

I do use the prefix “mostly” when I call myself vegan but that doesn’t change that when those of a particular agenda start to impress their beliefs upon those that differ. It is fine to believe something and share that opinion but when encountering a differing opinion, to force your belief on them is liken to extremism.

Also, to purport that an animal has equal rights to a human is a dangerous idea. They deserve dignity, respect and protection. We are to husband them with care and give them a good life. In my carnivore days I was a distinctive consumer of flesh and would only purchase humane, free range and small farm meat from local producers when available. On the infrequent occasion that I will consume an animal I will still do the same.

Ethically I see animal consumption as part of the natural order. I see us eating a raised or hunted beast as no different as the tiger in the wild that takes a gazelle. I am in no way trying to change anyone else’s mind on the matter, I don’t have to. My opinion does not need others to share it, it is mine. If someone does not share my thoughts, they don’t have to and if someone never wants to eat animal products, that is great too, but to liken a natural process to slavery is not going to make me take you seriously. I do agree that factory farming is bad and against that natural order of things but after farming improves their habits, my beliefs are that it is a natural thing for human animals to eat beast animals.

As stated before, my vegan (mostly vegan) diet is based on health reasons only. The food that I do buy is purchased for ethical reasons leaning towards good farm practices, meat or vegetable.

MostlyVeganVet, I reread your post above the last one. You didn’t use the prefix “mostly” even once. You talked about being vegan, newly vegan, vegan for dietary reasons, and then you talked about sometimes eating meat. It sounds like you’re not even close, not even to being vegetarian. If something is drawing you toward the idea of living as a vegan, it would be good to sit with that something, and consider the possibility of taking it on for real. Why on earth would you want to attach a label like that to yourself, with all its baggage, unless something is actually drawing you toward that idea?

Forget about animals having equal rights to humans, nobody is arguing that. Animals don’t vote, don’t own property, don’t hire lobbyists or lawyers. What vegans want to give voice to is all animals’ desire not to be abused, eaten, skinned or experimented on. Predators in the wild eat other animals because they have to, they would die if they didn’t. We humans don’t have that need anymore, we can get our protein from other foods instead. When you communicate with vegetarians and vegans, think about how appetizing it would be for you to eat a plateful of raw chicken. This is how different humans are from predator animals like tigers: To make meat safe and palatable, we have to chemically change it, and flavor it with herbs, spices and other flavorants. To put this into perspective: For someone who quit eating meat a couple or more years ago, the idea of eating meat might be about as appetizing as eating a plateful of raw chicken would be for you.

Sashimi and carpaccio, yes I’m aware of these raw dishes. Steak Diane and Steak Tartare as well. That’s why I specifically chose raw chicken for an example of something omnivores in our culture would probably feel queasy about eating, to illustrate how different we are from obligate omnivores like tigers, and as an empathy exercise to show how some vegans feel about even cooked meats. I wasn’t trying to make a case for limiting ourselves to what we can eat raw, just showing how radically an appetite can change over time.

MostlyVV wries, “to purport that an animal has equal rights to a human is a dangerous idea”. I don’t know how many times you have actually had to chose between killing a human and killing a sentient non-human animals. I suspect that most of the time the choice is between your tastebuds and an animal’s life.

I don’t get why you feel the need to base you actions on the behaviour of another species, but would be interested in why you chose the tiger. Did you choose tigers because they eat meat or are there other reasons?

You refer “your carnivore days”. Would it not be simpler just to use words like “now”?

You are probably a very nice person in many ways, and I am sorry that my pointing out the inconsistency of your words comes across as sarcastic. It is not intended as a personal attack on you as a whole, merely pointing out the lack of logic of your thinking on this particular issue.

It is not ours to give. The problem is exactly this, that we see ourselves as supreme rulers whose right it is to choose if we _give_ another being a good life. The problem is not the kind of life we’re giving them, but that we think we should “give” or take in the first place.

Animals in the wild are doing just fine living their good lives, until we come along.

I have to wonder if a side effect of a totally vegan diet makes people uptight, no sense-of-humor, and self-righteous d-bags? Oy. I love the word “seagan”, which I believe to be tongue in cheek, and have also heard of “freegan” (vegan, but if it’s free they’ll eat it). Heck there are also vagetarians. Come on people, loosen up. I call myself, unabashedly, a “fake vegetarian”. This means, I normally prefer a vegetarian diet, but I’ll eat other things from time to time, usually food that someone hunted/fished. And every now and then I’ll binge on bacon or some organ meats. For some reason things like marrow and liver just feel so RIGHT for me to eat. I suspect I’m not getting those nutrients regularly enough my my fake-veg diet. Anyway, thanks a lot for the descriptions of the secret breakfast! Total food porn.

I believe it would indeed be “easier” if vegans weren’t all serious about not killing ‘n stuff.

The fact that you do wish to refer to yourself as a vegan while not being one means that you are on some level not very comfortable not seeing yourself as someone who is a full on omni. Why do you think that is?

On the other hand, maybe you are not comfortable with others that see themselves as part time vegans that feel that it is okay to take a life to eat, or just don’t think like you do.

As I have explained before, I am (mostly)”vegan” for dietary reasons. I love vegan food but I also feel better when I eat fish and still from time to time crave something that lived outside of the water. Everyone has different tastes and needs. No two people will have the same requirements for their diet. I think it is great that there are strict vegans out there as well as fleshy omnivores but like conservatives and liberals will not likely see eye to eye soon I do not expect abolitionist ethical vegans to understand my choices either.

People’s dietary needs differ, yes, but as long as you haven’t tried a varied vegan diet (with b12 supplements) for a fair length of time you don’t know how your body responds when you cut out all animal products. I dare you: http://www.vegansociety.com/VeganPledge.aspx

You are right, of course I am not comfortable with the idea of people taking other’s lives because it isn’t necessary.

I am a lefty and all for choices and respecting other people’s choices and rights, and that is exactly why I cannot understand that somehow, the others you eat, are given no choice at all. They run for their lives the minute they understand someone means them harm. If that isn’t a clear no, I don’t know what is. Why does their vote doesn’t count?

I made this last night and it was sooo yummy! I chilled the Mimicreme first and it took about 35 minutes in the ice cream maker to get to a decent firmness (I think maybe the booze?). I’m not vegan and I think the idea of this blog is great, anything to get people to try more vegan options is awesome.